The “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” is one of the “Four Books of Destiny” in China, along with the “San Ming Tong Hui”, “Di Tian Sui”, and “Zi Ping Zhen Quan”. It is an ancient book with a high status in the field of fortune telling. The following is a detailed introduction to its main content:
1、 Book Background and Version
Original name and completion of the book: “Poor Tongbao Jian” was originally named “Lanjiang Net”, which means “setting up a net across the river and sweeping it all with one net”. The original book did not include the author’s name and the year of the work, but from the analysis of the fate of famous Ming Dynasty officials and assistants listed in the book, it can be inferred that this book was written in the late Ming Dynasty.
Transmission and organization: After its completion, this book was only circulated in the martial arts world as a “private secret record style copy” or a “handkerchief box secret copy” only for disciples to read. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, people were renamed as “Zaohua Yuanyue” by Japanese officials. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, there were copies that were circulated in society and entered the hands of Yu Chuntai in southern Chu. He added, deleted, and edited them in detail, and renamed them “Poor Tong Baojian” and published them in the world. During the Republic of China period, the famous fortune teller Xu Lewu provided commentary and renamed it “Commentary on the Key to Creation” (Commentary on the Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror).
2、 Content Features and Destiny Methods
Content features: “Poor Pass Treasure Book” is an ancient book with relatively simple and understandable contents in many works on fate theory. It combines the essence of previous theories and practices, and summarizes a set of simple and practical methods for judging fate.
Fate assessment method:
Unique insight: The general method of determining destiny is based on the positive five elements of the monthly calendar as the starting point to judge the overall situation, while the “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” is based on the relationship between the actual climate of each month and the day master. When determining destiny, the actual weather conditions of the day are given priority over the positive five elements of the monthly calendar.
Adjusting the seasons and using the gods: This book uses the ten stems to match the twelve months, observing their growth and prosperity, and resting prisoners to determine the general principles for selecting and using them. It uses the Yin Yang Five Elements Meridian, the Moon Order as the latitude, supplemented by the cold and warm seasons, with officials as the first and wealth as the second. It has unique insights. People regard it as a miraculous book of destiny, but later fortune tellers discussed the decline, happiness, and taboos of the four seasons and five elements, and many regarded it as the foundation of regulating and using gods.
3、 Overview of Structure and Content
Structure: The structure of “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” is clear and the content is well-organized. It begins with a general discussion of the five elements, followed by separate discussions on the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and then subdivided into specific discussions for each season (spring, summer, autumn, winter).
Content: The book provides a detailed analysis of the birth, prosperity, rest, and imprisonment states of different Five Elements in different seasons and months, as well as the corresponding general principles for their use. At the same time, through rich analysis of destiny examples, it also demonstrates how to apply theory to practical destiny inference.
4、 Evaluation and Application
Evaluation: “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” holds a considerable position in the field of fortune telling and is known as the “model of Ziping”. The fundamental reason for this is that there are about 520000 variations in the Eight Characters, and those who study destiny have always wanted to find a simple way to summarize all the examples of destiny, and the “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” provides such a form. However, there are also opinions that the methods in the book are relatively rigid and lack flexibility, so when applied, it is necessary to combine other theories of fortune telling for comprehensive judgment.
Application: The method of discussing fate in the “Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror” has been widely applied in the practice of fortune telling and has become an important reference for many fortune telling scholars to infer fate. At the same time, the book is also regarded as one of the introductory classics for studying fortune telling and understanding the relationship between the five elements.
The Poor Comprehensive Treasure Mirror is an ancient book on fortune telling with rich content, clear structure, and unique insights. Its unique method of divination and practical application value make it widely influential and influential in the field of fortune telling.